Pundits and readers go over the U.S. Embassy's move to Jerusalem and the deadly protests that have accompanied it.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed along Israel's border with Gaza on Monday as violent demonstrations grew deadly amid Israeli celebrations of the U.S. Embassy moving from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Middle East has always been a place of universal truths. The first, and most prominent, is the belief that resolving the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is the gateway to broader peace in the region. Solve the conflict and, in doing so, address all the other deep-rooted quandaries that affect the Middle East. Fail and instability, war and hatred will flourish.

However, the Middle East of today — shaken up by the Arab Spring revolts and alarmed by the rise of the Islamic Republic of Iran — is a profoundly different place than it was a decade ago. The decision by the Trump administration to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is an acknowledgment of these new realities.

The timing of the decision — and the reaction to it, especially from the Arab world — have revealed some remarkable truths about the New Middle East.

First, while most of the Arab world objected to the announcement of the Trump administration, they made a tactical decision not to back up their condemnation by any meaningful actions to support the Palestinians. Why? Because solving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is no longer important enough for them to sacrifice more pressing security concerns.

The Arab Spring revolts have shred into pieces the myth that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the epicenter of war in the region. The stability of the region has nothing to do with checkpoints between Gaza and its neighbors. Making peace between Jerusalem and Ramallah cannot rebuild the broken cities of Syria, nor can it end sectarian strife in Iraq or the civil war in Yemen.

The Arab world’s backing of the Palestinian cause has always been motivated by pragmatism rather than passion. Yet, now it is the exact same pragmatism over Iran’s illicit nuclear and malign non-nuclear activities which brings Israel and its Arab neighbors closer together than ever before.

Against these changes, the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem could inject new life into the stalled peace process, for it drives home to the Palestinians that unilateralism no longer is an attractive option — and genuine peace negotiations the only viable solution.

Joshua S. Block is the president and CEO of The Israel Project, an educational organization focused on Israel and the Middle East and securing Israel's future.

What our readers are saying

The violence in the Gaza Strip was triggered by President Trump's ill-advised decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. This is entirely his doing.

I guess dead Palestinians don't matter to him.

— Joe Doerger

The terrorist group Hamas wants Palestinians to break through the fence. Hamas wants a bloodbath and still clearly working towards the elimination of Israel.

— Daniel Dinnell

With everything going on in the world, I think this was the wrong time to move the U.S. Embassy. I do not trust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He is using America for his personal benefit.

— Antonio Epperson

Many people said, when this move was announced, that moving the embassy to Jerusalem would lead to protests and deaths. Now maybe people don't care because it's mostly Palestinian deaths, but keep in mind that the blowback from such an incendiary move will affect American lives sooner or later.

What others are saying

Miriam Adelson,Las Vegas Review-Journal: "For too long, the Palestinians stymied peace with Israel by insisting on the lie that Jerusalem was theirs. The pragmatists among them understood that this was a non-starter — that Israelis would never give up on the city promised to them in the Bible, millennia before the advent of Islam, and which has been a model of religious and ethnic coexistence only under Israel’s sovereignty. By removing any question about U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, President Trump has freed up these pragmatists to think anew and craft a workable accommodation with their Israeli neighbors."

Today, thanks to the leadership of @POTUS, we celebrate history in the making... the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel. America stands with Israel!

Judith Varnai-Shorer,The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "If the international community is sincere in its desire to aid the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, it must put pressure on the culprit behind the violence: Hamas. Israel seeks a quiet border with Gaza and envisions a future of peace with its Palestinian neighbors. Unfortunately, as long as Hamas is not contained and continues to pour all its efforts into destroying Israel rather than serving its own people, peace will be overridden by violence."

Watching Netanyahu's speech being telecast globally, calling it a glorious and historical day while Gaza witnesses perhaps the worst bloodbath in years. Tyranny has a face.

Roger Cohen,The New York Times: "Gaza Redux: the violence is inevitable. The Israeli-Palestinian status quo, so called, incubates bloodshed. It’s important to look beyond the Gaza fence, symbol, like all fences, of failure. This is what happens when diplomacy dies, when compromise evaporates, when cynicism triumphs. Even President Trump has lost interest in his 'ultimate deal' and sees North Korea shimmering."

As Donald Trump, Jared Kushner and the plethora of their cult members celebrate the US Embassy moving to Jerusalem, 6 Palestinian children are dead in Gaza. To me, moving the embassy isn't worth the life of one single innocent child. Where have our morals gone as a country!?